My Studio Neighbors

The Ragged Orchid (H. Lacera) 205 Cypripedium Acaule 207 Moccasin-flower (C. Acaule) 208 The Bee Imprisoned in the Lips of Cypripedium 210 Moccasin-flower. Bee Sipping Nectar 211 The Bee Passing Beneath the Stigma 213 A Bee Receiving Pollen-plaster on His Thorax 214 Rattlesnake-Plantain--the Young and the Old 215 Cross-fertilization of the Rattlesnake-Plantain. Side Sections 216 Cross-fertilisation of the Rattlesnake-Plantain. Front View 217 The Tongue of a Bumblebee 218 Goodyera, or Periamium Pubescens 221 Milkweed Captives 231 The Pollen Masses and the Fissure 232 The Tragedy of the Bees 235 A Moth Caught by the Tongue in Dogbane 237 A FAMILIAR GUEST Solitude! Where under trees and sky shall you find it? The more solitary the recluse and the more confirmed and grounded his seclusion, the wider and more familiar becomes the circle of his social environment, until at length, like a very dryad of old, the birds build and sing in his branches and the "wee wild beasties" nest in his pockets. If he fails to be aware of the fact, more's the pity. His desolation is within, not without, in spite of, not because of, his surroundings. Here in my country studio--not a hermitage, 'tis true, but secluded among trees, some distance isolated from my own home and out of sight of any other--what company! What occasional "tumultuous privacy" is mine! I have frequently been obliged to step out upon the porch and request a modulation of hilarity and a more courteous respect for my hospitality. But this is evidently entirely a matter of point of view, and, judging from the effects of my protests at such times, my assumed superior air of condescension is apparently construed as a huge joke. If the resultant rejoinder of wild volapuek and expressive pantomime has any significance, it is plain that I am desired to understand that my exact status is that of a squatter on contested territory.